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The Creme de la Creme: 2000Jan 31 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line "Out of the doldrums, a movie will rise"...While most big-budget, big-hyped studio blockbusters were lackluster entertainments, there were at least 10 gems that sparkled. We are a nation of list-makers. We’ve got grocery lists, to-do lists, and late-night talk show lists. Type in “book of lists” at amazon.com and you’ll come up with 480 matches. Lists, it seems, are practically God-ordained (don’t forget Moses came down off Mt. Sinai with a list of Top 10 Things God Wants Us To Do). But there is nothing so sacred as the January lists. You know what I’m talking about: the once-a-year compilations from magazines, newspapers, organizations and anal-retentive critics like yours truly where we deliver to you, the breathless and drooling public, our proclamations of the Best [Movies, Books, Celebrity Wardrobe, Spiral-Bound Notebook Designs…whatever] of the Year. Between Dec. 30 and Jan. 31, media outlets are so choked, blitzed and clogged with Top 10 Lists it’s amazing that any real news seeps through (by the way, did that presidential inauguration thingy ever take place?). This year, The New York Times published not one, but three Top 10 Movie Lists. Most of their picks, of course, were cinematic delicacies the majority of American theatergoers will never see (things are getting better, but we’re still a nation slow to embrace subtitles and indies). And so, with thudding heart and trembling fingers, I sit down to type for you, the drool-chinned reader, a List of the Best Movies of 2000. “Best” being a relative term, of course. This past year sure didn’t make it easy on movie critics to compile their January lists. There are no clear-cut, out-and-out perfect movies (“perfect” being a relative term, of course). There are no American Beauties, no Godfathers, no All About Eves, no Schindler’s Lists (there’s that “L” word again!). Was this the Worst Year of Cinema (as so many media scribblers have dubbed it)? No, probably not…but I’d be hard-pressed to find another 12 months filled with more lackluster studio projects than the ones we’ve just put behind us. But I’ll save my carping for the 10 Worst Movies list. As usual, studios saved their best for last, making the Labor Day to Christmas season top-heavy with serious, quality films (translation: “Oscar contenders”) while the other eight months went begging. And, as usual, since I live in Alaska, many of those serious, quality films never made it farther north than the Canadian border (I was lucky enough to catch Girlfight on a business trip to Washington, D.C.). I’m still waiting for You Can Count On Me, State and Main and Dancer in the Dark with bated breath. Speaking of bated breath, enough with the preamble. On with the show! These are the movies that burned brightest in my brain this past year. I’ve listed them in ascending order: 10. Girlfight After seeing this independent film, I swear I’ll never again use that phrase “Fights like a girl.” Writer-director Karyn Kusama and lead actress Michelle Rodriguez wallop the viewer with this riveting story of a troubled high school senior who steps into the boxing ring to work out all her aggression. The cinematography and hip-hop soundtrack are just as memorable. 9. Nurse Betty Dark-comedy director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men) surprised everyone with this relatively light movie about fan obsession. I say “relatively light” because there is, after all, an on-screen scalping. Renee Zellweger earned a well-deserved Golden Globe for her portrayal of a small-town waitress with soap opera doctors on the brain. This is a sly satire that’s sweet ’n fluffy on the outside but dark-as-coffee at its center (it is LaBute, after all). 8. Cast Away Tom Hanks proves that one man is an island. Teaming up with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemekis, Hanks is the ultimate Survivor in this fable about what happens when a time-obsessed FedEx worker loses his watch, his pager and his razor. I can think of only one other film (1979’s The Black Stallion) which had as compelling a dialogue-free interlude: for nearly an hour, it’s just Hanks, the island and a volleyball named Wilson. This was film haiku in the midst of box office noise and bluster. 7. Joe Gould’s Secret This little-seen movie made $38,000 on its opening weekend…How the Grinch Stole My Wallet (or whatever) made $55 million on its opening weekend. I would go see Joe Gould’s Secret a hundred times again…I was sorry I saw Grinch even once. Stanley Tucci’s little literary masterpiece about New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell and his relationship with an insane genius has great acting, a word-lover’s script and superb production values. This was the best-kept “secret” of the year—which is too bad, really. This film deserved a much larger audience. 6. Traffic Steven Soderbergh deftly directed three lanes of speeding vehicles in this big film: Washington’s newly-appointed drug czar (Michael Douglas) fumbling toward national policy while coming to grips with his own daughter’s heroin addiction; a rich San Diego housewife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) fumbling for stability while coming to grips with the knowledge that her husband has been arrested on drug trafficking charges; and a Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro) fumbling with morality while coming to grips with the fact he’s surrounded by corruption. It’s a film with big ambitions and an even bigger cast. While it offers no easy answers to the national drug policy question, it’s an unforgettable ride nonetheless. 5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Director Ang Lee’s romantic-action fable is poised to become one of the most successful foreign films of all time. There’s a good reason for that: this is filmmaking that dazzles and excites viewers—even folks who normally wouldn’t sit through two hours of Mandarin Chinese. The story of an ancient sword, vengeance and true love, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon defies genres—in fact, it gives terms like “Action,” “Romance” and “Sweeping Epic” a swift, flying kick in the head. It’s all that and more—a classic tale filled with eye-popping stunts that set a new benchmark in martial arts. 4. Chicken Run Going to see this movie at the local cineplex proved to be an embarrassing experience for my wife: the louder I laughed, the deeper she sank in her seat. I just couldn’t help myself. Bar none, this was the giddiest 90 minutes I spent in a dark room all year. Wallace and Gromit animator Nick Park really knows how to tickle the ole funny bone with this madcap screwball adventure of a flock of poultry trying to fly their coop. The scene where Rocky and Ginger are trapped inside the meat-pie machine remains the most thrillingly-choreographed action sequence of the past year, claymation or flesh-and-blood. 3. Erin Brockovich In that movie wasteland stretching from New Years Day to Memorial Day, there was only one film that raised a blip on my radar screen. Erin Brockovich was funny, moving and thought-provoking. It’s more mainstream than director Steven Soderbergh’s other 2000 film (Traffic) and it’s certainly got more closure. It’s also got America’s Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts, in a career-best performance. Like Sally Field in Norma Rae, Roberts sinks her teeth and nails into the true tale of an out-of-work single mom who turns paralegal environmental activist. It’s a revealing role in all aspects (“They’re called boobs, Ed”) and Julia is equal parts tough and vulnerable. The movie also gives Albert Finney the chance to come out of a career coma with a funny, endearing turn as Brockovich’s befuddled boss. 2. Fantasia 2000 Sixty years in the making, the Disney studios finally fulfilled Uncle Walt’s original vision for a soul-soaring blend of animation and classical music. Walt wanted Fantasia to be an ever-evolving cinematic work of art, periodically adding new animated segments. For the millennium edition, six new sequences plus the original audience favorite The Sorcerer’s Apprentice delivered the goods in overwhelming fashion. Beethoven, Gershwin, Elgar, Saint-Saens, Shostakovich and Stravinsky never looked (or sounded) so gorgeous. I watched Fantasia 2000 on DVD one night and had a hard time falling asleep, what with all the flying whales and yo-yoing flamingoes reeling through my head. By the way, this is the only movie in the past 365 days which made me cry (oh sure, I bawled at others—but that was over the waste of my money at the ticket booth). I replayed the Firebird finale over and over and misted up every time. 1. Almost Famous Quite possibly the greatest rock-and-roll movie of all time, Almost Famous was certainly the greatest time I had at the movies all year. Cameron Crowe’s thinly-disguised autobiographical tale of a teenage journalist, on assignment for Rolling Stone to cover the about-to-fade band Stillwater, wears its heart on its paisley-patterned sleeve. Like its main character, this movie is wide-eyed and fresh as it takes us inside a band and, most of all, inside an era (the early 80s). In addition to impressive performances by up-and-comers Patrick Fugit and Kate Hudson, Almost Famous rocks with comic and dramatic energy from experienced actors like Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jason Lee. Unfortunately, the studio bumbled the publicity campaign for the movie and it sputtered at the box office, turning it into Almost Obscure. It only earned $32 million—paltry by industry standards. Do yourself a favor, seek out this flick at your local second-run theater and enjoy the groove. By the end of the movie, you’ll be swaying to the beat and raising high your eternal-flamed Bic lighter (if the theater management allows such a thing).  |
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by jeff_wilder78
